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I just played Sonic 2 on a PS2 compilation disc today. I've played the game a million times on my PC emulated, but it just feels so much better to be playing it on a TV sitting on a couch with other people watching. Even though the emulation on the PS2 version sucked, it was still more fun than playing it on a computer screen.

How is Sonic CD different compared to the other Sonics? Every time I try to play it I am reminded of how bad it is and give up, so I don't know what you're referring to specifically.
But I have a good gamepad for my PC, so it's not usually a problem, although like every other gamepad in the world mine has the 4 button diamond layout like the emulated console versions would, not the 6 of the Mega Drive.

And unfortunately this was just a SEGA collection, not one of the million Sonic collections, so the only Sonic games it has are Sonic 1 and 2. Hopefully they've fixed the emulation in the Sonic collections, because the sound is garbage for this collection. The sampled audio intro is choppy, and the Mega Drive PSG chip is emulated so poorly that half of the sound effects just sound completely wrong, just like on the worse emulators.

How is Sonic CD different compared to the other Sonics? Every time I try to play it I am reminded of how bad it is and give up, so I don't know what you're referring to specifically.
But I have a good gamepad for my PC, so it's not usually a problem, although like every other gamepad in the world mine has the 4 button diamond layout like the emulated console versions would, not the 6 of the Mega Drive.

Its the choppy-ness that makes it annoying, on an actual console the game runs slightly smoother but the game engine is still crappy, Sonic tends to never go where you want him to, its very frustrating.
Sonic 1, 2 and 3K run much better on consoles, even the DS collection version is nice and smooth.

__________________"But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake."

How is Sonic CD different compared to the other Sonics? Every time I try to play it I am reminded of how bad it is and give up, so I don't know what you're referring to specifically.
But I have a good gamepad for my PC, so it's not usually a problem, although like every other gamepad in the world mine has the 4 button diamond layout like the emulated console versions would, not the 6 of the Mega Drive.

Its the choppy-ness that makes it annoying, on an actual console the game runs slightly smoother but the game engine is still crappy, Sonic tends to never go where you want him to, its very frustrating.
Sonic 1, 2 and 3K run much better on consoles, even the DS collection version is nice and smooth.

I actually found the DS versions to be slightly choppy. Not unplayably so, but enough for me to notice.
And I didn't think of it at the time, but I think the PS2 Sonics I played were running at 60fps, so NTSC versions rather than the PAL ones at 50fps. I always played the PAL one on the console of course, but after playing it emulated for so long at full speed 60fps, I can't play the PAL version anymore. It's just slooooow.

I'm in receipt of his PS2 and the promise of more turn based fantasy combat

Be ready to walkaway from any given game if its not really working for you. While there are more than a few worth playing, JRPGs (and Japanese games in general) began their decline during the PS2 era. Its so bad now, I can firmly say I have only played one good JRPG in this console generation, and even it was over-burdened with all its little mini-systems and whatever else.

Still, the primary point was about the decline. Even the Japanese developers recognize it, but they seem to think its because of changing trends and cultural drift. They're all still crapping out gems that everyone should love.

I don't think creativity has taken a decline per se, I think there is an element of not being willing to take risks on the few big budget HD rpgs we do get which results in them being pretty generic. Some developers stuck pretty exclusively to the PS2 until only a couple of years ago, and then have all but moved to handheld because of the staggering dev costs in coding HD games.

Companies like atlus, nippon ichi and sting are still pushing out new concepts on the psp & ds, where the dev costs are a lot lower and the occasional failure can be absorbed.

I don't think creativity has taken a decline per se, I think there is an element of not being willing to take risks on the few big budget HD rpgs we do get which results in them being pretty generic.

I think the most telling statement was from SEGA about the future of their RPG efforts on the big consoles. Effectively, they said, development costs for quality had gotten so high with the PS3 and X360 that they couldn't make any money on the platforms for an RPG. They're now relying more on the DSi and PSP.

It's actually one reason that I think we're really a long way off from another generation of hardware. Developers can't afford to 'max-use' the hardware that's available now. What's the point in upping the specs, costs, and difficulty even more?